I am hopefully getting chicks this spring… last spring order was canceled by Hatchery.
What I have read is mixed on feeding this breed and I have not kept them yet but supposedly they can have troubles with whole grains, crop impaction… avoid dried beans and chocolate (which is usually suggested for all chickens)… some folks do the rice and meat (fish usually), others just use commercial feeds. The big thing seems to be watching their growth and adjusting for it because they do grow slow, so you don’t want them to put on weight faster than their skeleton can support. Anyway that is what I understand (hopefully a Saipan keeper with experience will chime in).
I had a few Oriental mixes and they grew slower, had similar body to Saipans, they did fine on the same feed we feed the others which is a soy free, corn free feed… lots of whole grains, my birds get supplement veggies/greens/sprouts, free range time, bugs, table scraps and so on as well. They do get a little corn in their diet but I limit it. I do feed a higher protein diet than most people as I found it stops certain flock issues in my mixed flock of laying hens.
I’m also trying to understand their feather type better, I keep reading small and tight… but that is it… anyone know what the texture of the adult feather is supposed to be… soft or hard or something else… just curious.
